Christmas and New Year Message 1972

Written by Sant Kirpal Singh, December 20, 1972

The good tidings and Christmas and New Year Message is that we have a golden opportunity to enable us to reach back to our true home and it is in the man body only that you can come to have the water of life which will satisfy all your thirsts. One Samaritan lady was going by with a pitcher full of water on her head. Christ wanted water from her, but she, out of an inferiority complex, did not give, and wondered, why does he ask water from me? So Christ said: Had she given me water, that would have satisfied my thirst only once; again I would have thirsted. Had she come to me, I would have given her the water of life which would have satisfied all of her thirst for life.

So this is the water of life, which is the ultimate goal for which this man body has been given to us. If you have it, the result will be that it will lead you to everlasting life. But this you can have only at the feet of a Master. This is the teaching to all the world over: wherever we are – East or West – that makes no difference. It matters little which school of thought we have joined; it does not matter in which school of thought you have achieved this very water of life for which you have been sent to the world. It is good to be born in a temple, but to die in it is sin. Man is a social being; he must have some social body to live in. But do not be proud because you belong to one social body or the other. It only matters how far you have succeeded in having the water of life. There are so many schools and colleges; but at the end of the year, what counts is how many successful students have come out of each college, and how many in all the country.

So we have different schools of thought. But we must see how far we have achieved that thing. Whether we graduate from one college or the other, that makes no difference. The main thing to be viewed is to get that degree. And that school is creditable which turns out many people with these degrees. But pillars are being raised in different schools of thought or religions and social bodies; everyone belonging to a particular school says that his school is the best. All schools are meant to be the way back to God. That school is the best which enables more people to reach God. For that reason, the pride that you belong to one school of thought or the other will not count much. I think it will count little. The only thing that will count is how far you have advanced toward obtaining that degree which was to have been obtained by your joining that school.

So the Masters say, to have that water of life within you, you have to control your mind. Only mind stands in the way. And how can the mind be satisfied? The more you give it to outside things, the more it wants. There is one remedy for controlling the mind, and that is within you. How long will this mind be going round and round in the outer things? You are worried; you see no satisfactions. The more you have, the more the mind will want. The remedy is the true nectar of Naam, true water of life, bread of life, which is within you. But we are trying to find that remedy in all the outer pursuits through the outgoing faculties.

So the mind is the one standing in our way – between us and God. That is the first step we have to take–to control mind – no matter to which school of thought we belong. That makes no difference. We are all children of God, born the same way, with the same privileges from God. Soul being of the same essence as that of God, we are all brothers and sisters in God and the same one Power whom we worship, called by different names. Unity already exists; we have forgotten. Masters come to revive that. They bring no 'ism', no school of thought; they say so many schools of thought are there. We have to look to the purpose for which they are meant. If you have not yet had that purpose for which you have joined the various schools of thought, what have you learned? Whether you belong to one country or the other? 'As you sow, so shall you reap'. Wherever you are attached, you will have to go there. That is the inexorable law.

Follow all virtues. What is the definition of evil and virtue? In the terminology of the Saints, virtue is that which leads you to God, and evil that which takes you away from God. This is the interpretation given by the Masters. Confession is necessary. Every day pray – 'O God, what has come out of me, I repent'. Shed tears. The water of your eyes will wash away the evil. And follow what leads you to God. Have chastity of thought, word and deed. Only such people will have the nectar of life and reach back home in this very life. That is the difference between a Master and an average man. Master has full control over His mind and the outgoing faculties. As and when He requires, He uses them without being attached to them. The result is, he will go where he is attached. For that reason, we do not know what is good and what is bad. I give you the difference: what leads you to God, helps you to reach God, that is all good; what keeps you away from God, that is all evil.

What do we do? We again and again are the doers. Unless we became the Conscious Co-workers of the Divine Plan, we cannot lose our ego. This ego has made the world. From the word 'world', if you take out the 'l', it is 'Word'! Word is God. So long as you are the doer, this 'l' is there. You have to reap what you have sown. Good or bad actions both are equally binding; they may be chains of iron or gold.

The more chaste you are in thought, word, and deed, the more you will have in abundance the water of life within you. Inside we alre full of dirt: of the greed of the world – the desire to have more and more, no matter whether it is had by good, fair or foul means. Outwardly you have your very beautiful faces and clothings and are neat and clean. What is the use of that? Masters say that God looks to the heart, not to outward bodies; not how you look, but how you act. You cannot deceive God. You can deceive the world for a while – not all the time, mind that. The cat will be out of the bag sooner or later. You are here to cleanse off all these evil deeds, wvil actions, evil thoughts. There is one remedy: sit at the feet of a Master. You will find all the virtues of God reflected in Him. We have not seen God; we see the Master in which the very attributes which are in God are manifested in Him on a smaller scale. His mind is controlled. When you sit near Him in the field of action of His aura, you will be affected. Your soul should be controlled. When that is stilled, then mind will naturally be stilled. Mind gets strength from the soul.

So the only remedy is to sit at the feet of a Master, and what does He give you to wash away all these evil things? He gives you a contact with the water of life, Naam or Word within you. 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.' Come in contact with God – you will have Light in effulgence, in abundance comparing to thousands of suns rising together. And the water of life within you will wash away all your evil thoughts, words and deeds.

This you will have only if you become a Gurmukh. To be a Gurmukh means first to keep the commandments of the Guru. Second, to become the mouthpiece of the Guru. Keep His commandments and then develop receptivity. Be grafted in the Guru. Grafting, you know, is when a branch of a tree is embedded into another tree; the result will be that the fruit will have the appearence of the branch which has been embadded into the mother tree, but it will have the perfume of the mother tree – just as all the virtues of the Guru will be reflected in you. This way you will have two-thirds of the teachings of the Master within you. One-third you have by word of mouth, and two-thirds by receptivity: by grafting. Christ also referred to this: 'I am the vine, ye are the branches. As long as the branches are embedded in the vine, they will bear fruit in abundance.' This means to be a Gurmukh. Just do what the Master orders you to do. Live up to His commandments, one hundred per cent, and you will be on the way. You will progress quickly. But if you become grafted in him, you will become what he is. 'It is I, not now I, but Christ lives in me.' That is the ultimate result of being a Gurmukh. It will bring you back to God definitly, as sure as two and two make four.

But true living is required. "Truth is above all, but true living is still above the truth." Socrates was asked, "Do you love the truth or Plato?" He replied, "I love truth more than Plato." Leave off all worldly things which are standing in your way. Live up to what the Master says. Even then you pray, "O God, You take us back home by any excuse You can find – we are not fit, not worthy for that. It is only Your Grace that can lead us to Your home." You must surrender yourself to God. He is your fast friend, working through your Master. He always wishes you to become what He is. No king wants his son to be a minister; he wants every son of his to become king. So every Saint wants everybody to become a Saint. He makes you a man from beastly life; and from man, He raises you to a micro-God. But this will come ultimately by surrendering yourself to God and sticking to the words of the Master one hundred per cent outside, and by being grafted in the Guru. Take it as your program before you. Live up to it. You will surely derive the full benefit of having the man body.

Christmas and New Year are coming up, and this may be taken as the message for the occasion. My wishes are with you all and will remain with you. Master Power is with you all and will always be extending all feasible help and protection.